


Calibration in Progress

by sarcastic_ace_artist



Series: The Play [2]
Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Alternate Universe - Michael Has a Squip, Gen, Michael's perspective of the events leading up to chapter one of Whatever I Want, squipped michael
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-26
Updated: 2019-01-26
Packaged: 2019-10-17 06:26:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17555084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarcastic_ace_artist/pseuds/sarcastic_ace_artist
Summary: Michael waits in the audience for the perfect time to make his entrance during the play.Fortunately, he spots Jeremy trying to fend off his Squip and intervenes just in time.Unfortunately, things go wrong quickly and the last thing Michael remembers is the taste of Wintergreen Tic-tac and apologizing to Jeremy.





	Calibration in Progress

**Author's Note:**

> Leave a comment or a kudos!

Michael hummed to himself as he sat in the audience. The plot itself was decent, but the actors were not.

He gripped the bottle of Mountain Dew Red in his hoodie pocket and wondered when he should make his entrance.

_Ha. That sounds fun._

The Filipino began tapping out a beat on the armrest.

_‘Michael is here’? Nah doesn't sound good. ‘I’m making an entrance’? No. Matches the best though. Maybe I should add my name to it. Aha! ‘Michael makes an entrance’! Perfect!_

He laughed silently, getting a few weird looks from the other play viewers. Their loss. They couldn't plan out an entrance like he could.

Chloe and Brooke shuffled off-stage, and a sigh of relief seemed to rush through the room. Michael couldn’t help but agree. While he knew that Brooke was most likely trying her best— Chloe he wasn’t so sure— he knew that whatever she had been doing was not likely to get her into a lead role of a play. He saw them take a drink from something and start to shake. It was a beaker filled with Mountain Dew. And _stuff_ at the bottom.

_Squips. The entire cast was being squipped._

Now Michael knew that he had to make his entrance soon.

He knew that the saving graces of the play would be Jeremy and Christine, because compared to the other actors, they dominated the play.

How did he know this? Well, it wasn’t like he snuck into the drama room daily to check out Jeremy practicing his lines with the other members. It was those times that he regretted not joining his best friend in signing up for the play. Of course, there was the possibility that Mr. Reyes would randomly cast him in one of the roles. _No way in hell._ As much as Michael loved Jeremy, he hated crowds even more. So of course, he didn’t sign up. Unfortunately, that meant Jeremy started spending more time with Christine. And that left a sour taste in his mouth. But he pushed it down because Jeremy looked _so happy_ and he just couldn’t take that away from his best friend, because life had been rough on Jeremy, and he deserved happiness.

Michael shook his head, trying to rid himself of the depressive memories. _Later. Once Jeremy gets Christine I’ll be able to brood in my room all alone._

His eyes drifted to the sides of the stage, where he eyed the shadows, waiting to see if Jeremy was there.

Nope. Not yet. _Oh wait!_

Michael spotted a thin figure seemingly arguing with somebody that wasn't there. That _had_ to be Jeremy!

The figure collapsed, and Michael felt panic rising up. Now would be the _ideal_ time to make an entrance! He rushed out of his seat and pushed past people, ignoring their protests and into the stage wings.

Jeremy was now onstage, struggling to rise but looking as if he was being pushed down. Michael held the bottle of Mountain Dew Red and took a breath.

Jeremy was reaching towards his phone, screaming something. “Michael! Call M-Michae-el!” His voice was strained.

Michael leapt onto the stage holding the old soda in the air like a trophy.

“MICHAEL MAKES AN ENTRANCE!”

_“Ah ah ah ah ah ah!”_

Appropriately, the background music needed for the play had the right timing. It was like Michael had his own backup chorus just for him. The spotlight overhead was also somehow shining down on the Mountain Dew Red raised above his head. He lowered it in order to be able to look around better.

The audience applauded loudly, having no idea that whatever was happening wasn’t part of the play.

Michael suddenly remembered Christine and her love of theatre and stuff, and prayed that this “improv” scenario would be forgiven. What? She was scary when people dissed theatre and went _way_ off-track from the script!

“Michael!”

The boy in question looked down to Jeremy close to tears, grinning like he just won the lottery.

“Hey Jere,” Michael said breathlessly. Jeremy had some light shining down on him, offset from the shadow cast by Michael. “I was in the audience thinking ‘this is pretty good for a school play’. But then I was like ‘this is way too good for a school play!’ They’ve been squipped right?”

Jeremy nodded frantically, unwilling to look elsewhere.

“You came to see me?” The lanky teen flushed at his first words to Michael in over a month. “Even after everything that happened?" He sounded so scared that if Michael walked away he would never come back.

“Yeah!” He stood up shakily and launched himself at Michael, his arms find their way around him. They hugged for a few seconds and Jeremy pulled away.

“Michael I hate this. I hate being popular. Michael, I am so sorr—” His voice hitched and faded, and Jeremy clawed at his throat. “S-so-orr—” He coughed and hacked, his vocal chords unwilling to cooperate. “H-hel-lp me!”

Michael nodded grimly as he met Jeremy’s panicked expression, tears leaking from his eyes. “No problem. Seems like you’re a bit of a liability right now.” He vaguely remembered that the audience was watching them, and that anything they did was probably going to be remembered or recorded.

Jeremy jerked forward suddenly, his expression morphing into confusion. “Wha— AH!” His arms swung upwards, as if he were trying to swat at Michael. “My Squip! Michael my Squip is—” His voice cut off. His movements got jerkier.

Michael was stuck trying to fend off the hands flying at him. “Agh! Hey wait—! Jeremy do something—”

“I’m _trying!_ ” Jeremy screeched, his voice cracking. “I just—! Can’t do it!”

It was clear that even attempting to prevent his limbs from moving took a lot of effort. Michael suddenly got an idea.

“Hey Jere! Sorry about this!”

“What?”

And with that Michael swung his palm into Jeremy’s face. Hard. So hard that he fell backwards onto the floor.

“Ow!”

Well it worked. Jeremy was dazed and Michael had to act fast and now. So Michael straddled him and tried to not think about how awkward this scenario must look to the audience, who he remembered was still there, watching the two with hungry eyes.

He struggled to open the cap, but those few seconds cost him. Once the cap was just off, a hand smacked his arms. Michael yelled as the bottle tipped over the and the Mountain Dew Red spilled out. “Fuck!”

The bottle rolled a little, and was kicked away from them by Jake, who was walking past them without his crutches on. “Livin’ the upgrade, upgrade, upgrade…” He sang lightly, ignorant of his broken legs.

He joined the rest of the cast in a weird walk around the stage as they mumbled incoherently to themselves.

Jeremy gaped at the spill and then at the bottle being kicked around. “Oh shit! Oh my god Michael what are we going to do!”

The hooded teen pointed to the bottle. “It’s still got a few drops left! We can make it!” He pondered for a moment. “Hey Jere! It looks exactly like—”

“Apocalypse of the Damned! The Cafetorium!” They chorused, and turned to grin at each other.

“Let’s go!”

They dodged students and fought back to back, feeling invincible like their video game counterparts.

Michael managed to reach the almost-empty bottle first. Unfortunately, the Squip decided that the students surrounding him would mob him and hold him back. Fortunately, Michael had a good throwing arm. “Jeremy! Catch!” He lobbed the bottle over the students and watched as Jeremy grasped the bottle.

The student held his arms back and blocked his view of Jeremy.

Michael tugged his arms. “Let go of me! I said—!”

Jenna Rolan stood in front of him. “Don’t worry Michael! I know what you’re doing! I know what everyone’s doing _all the time!_ ” She laughed loudly and raised her hands—

_FUCK._

She was clutching the beaker filled with squips and Mountain Dew. Michael whimpered, hoping that Jeremy could drink the Mountain Dew Red before anything happened. He shut his mouth, hoping that they wouldn’t be able to force him to drink it.

A hand gripped his jaw and pried it open. Jenna poured the liquid into his mouth. Michael coughed, trying not to swallow it, but it was useless as his lack of breath forced him to gulp it down.

_Minty. Like Jeremy had said—_

There was a throbbing pain in his head and his world went dark. His legs felt like jelly and he could barely stand, only staying upright because of the students holding him.

_“Calibration in progress. Please excuse some mild discomfort.”_

_Was that Jeremy’s voice?!_

Michael screamed in pain, but it was drowned out by some shouting from the real Jeremy. _What was he shouting about?_

_“Calibration complete. Access procedure initiated. Discomfort level may increase.”_

Michael’s screaming grew louder.

 _“Accessing neural memory. Accessing muscle memory. Access procedure complete. Michael Mell, welcome to your Squip.”_ There was a faint crackle of static and Jeremy’s voice returned. _“Accepting procedures from Model 10081313.”_

_I’m so sorry Jeremy._

Michael felt a blinding white pain, and then there was nothing.

**Author's Note:**

> What did you guys think? I churned this out in like, an hour. I honestly had no idea what to do, I had no outline fleshed out. I just went with the flow.
> 
> I did something with the Squip's model number. >;3C  
> Comment on what you think it is and if you managed to find it!


End file.
